House price rises spread beyond New Zealand cities

Property values in New Zealand ­continued to rise in January, with gains extending beyond Auckland and Christchurch, where limited ­supply has pushed up prices.

National property values rose 1.5 per cent in the three months ended January 31 to $NZ426,452, an increase of 6.2 per cent over the past year, according to state valuer ­Quotable Value.

That’s the same rolling three-monthly pace of growth from December, and it is up from the 5.7 per cent annual increase. Property values are now 2.6 per cent above the last peak in late 2007.

The gains weren’t limited to Auckland and Christchurch, where an undersupply of housing has caused values to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the nation.

“Over the last month or two, values have also begun rising again in most other main cities and provincial centres," QV research director Jonno Ingerson said. “While the rate of value increase is not as fast as Auckland and Canterbury, it does signal an increase in confidence across most of the country."

Mr Ingerson said rising sales ­volumes and a shortage of houses for sale was likely to keep property prices under pressure.

Auckland property values rose 3 per cent in the rolling three-month period and were up 10 per cent on an annual basis, while Christchurch values grew a quarterly 2.4 per cent and an annual 7.1 per cent. Wellington values increased 0.6 per cent in the three months through January.